METRO magazine presents its yearly selection of North Carolinians who have made a contribution to the quality of people's lives in 2005. These include Bland Simpson, Ann Denlinger, Donald Rosenblitt, Henry Hugh Shelton, Chris Browning, and Gerhard Weinberg.

The community college of today is focused on building the work force in the future, from healthcare to high performance computing, auto technicians to PC game developers. Wake Tech trains more than 50,000 students a year--and it is growing.